BOULDER — I think a big problem with Colorado’s 1-8 record is quarterback play but I insist it’s not all their fault. Supplanted starter Jordan Webb would be an OK game manager if he had plenty of talent around him. He doesn’t.

And nowhere is it more evident than at wide receiver.

He has no breakaway threat. Leading receiver Nelson Spruce (30 catches for 312 yards, 2 TDs), just a freshman, and sophomore Tyler McCulloch are strictly possession receivers. Freshman Gerald Thomas has speed but has yet to show it.

Between the three of them, they’ve caught only 11 passes in the last three games in which they’ve scored all of two touchdowns — both by tailback Christian Powell — and have been outscored 168-20. Powell’s effectiveness could begin to drop. He’s only a freshman and a converted high school fullback but defenses are still cheating up to the line of scrimmage to stop his modest threat, knowing the wideouts can be easily covered one on one.

Colorado’s coaches are too civil to call out their players in public. When I asked coach Jon Embree about the wideouts ability to separate, he merely chuckled, shook his head and just said, “We’ve just got to be better.”

When I asked quarterbacks coach Rip Scherer, he said, “I’m not biting on that one.”

Paul Richardson would have added that playmaker at WR, and IMO, would have been a difference maker against CSU and Sac St enough to win both of those games. At that point this team would be 3-5 and not looked at as a glorified D2 school. Seriously… 1 player hurt could have made all the difference in the perception of this program this year (to an extent).

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.